Who is Hidden Catalyst?

Why I make films

Growing up, I knew my dad had been a professional photographer before I was born, before he had a desk job designing circuit boards. I watched him get laid-off from that job the year before he got sick. After he died, I was helping my mom go through all of the junk in the garage and I found a banker’s box in the back corner labeled “Steve’s Photos.” I can still smell that wet-then-dry-then-wet-then-dry cardboard musk as I took off the lid. Inside were photos of Apollo launches, negatives of Nixon outside of the Watergate trial, remarkable shots of nature, an incredibly powerful photo taken covertly after sneaking in to a KKK rally in the 1970s. I knew he had been a photographer, but this… I had no idea. This was incredible, award-winning work. But all of this talent, all of the work that went in to his craft, it all just ended up in a single banker’s box in the back of a garage. Unseen for decades. Unused for decades. It’s heartbreaking if I think about it too much, really.

But, at the same time, it’s incredibly motivating. To not let my passion, my ideas, my unique view of the world end up in a banker’s box. To literally have a lid on them until sometime after I die. That box has been pushing me forward for the last fifteen years.

While reading “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***”, part of it burned so deep in to me that I had to hear it ten times over: “Life is about not knowing, but then still doing it anyway. All of life is like this. It never changes. Even when you’re happy, even when you’re farting fairy dust, even when you win the lottery and buy a fleet of jet skis; you still won’t know what the hell you’re doing. Don’t ever forget that. And don’t ever be afraid of that…. Don’t just sit. Do something. The answers will follow.”

I think it’s easy to forget that moving inherently feels scary. Sitting still seems safe because it’s familiar, it’s what’s known. It’s also incredibly boring and will eventually lead you to either burning out or complete apathy. Maybe even both.

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Telling stories through film constantly pushes me to move, innovate and create. More than that, though, it allows me to work with others who refuse to sit still and to help push them toward their goals with what I create. I’ve been around the world chasing stories and finding adventure in people that might otherwise go unnoticed. I've been on tall ships and crammed inside prop planes, in ruins and on top of volcanoes. I’ve seen films I’ve produced lead to strengthened relationships, families finding safety, record level fund raising, small businesses reaching more people and views of the world around us drastically changed.

After seeing how I can make peoples’ worlds a better place, how could I do anything else?

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My dreams and work won’t end up in a box. Yours shouldn’t either.

Driven by Story.(No... For Real.)

Look, it's one thing for a filmmaker or media company to say that they are storytellers. It's another thing when they have the credentials to back it up.

I've been obsessed with great storytelling in film for years (my English minor was focused on film as literature) and it was so exciting when there was an increased emphasis on story a few years back. All of a sudden, it was all everyone wanted to do. Then, it became everything everyone thought they could do. It was diluted. The word "story" started to become diluted as everyone started to become "storytellers."

Around this time, I discovered the then-Canadian-based company Stillmotion, eventually watching them evolve in to Muse Storytelling. I was among the first people in the world to become aMuse Certified Storyteller. Using this process, Hidden Catalyst dig deep in to the people, purpose, place and plot of the film before the cameras even roll.

The best gear in the world could never make up for the lack of a strong story. Let us find and tell yours.